278 MISCELLANEOUS OBJECTIONS TO THE [Chap. VIL 



By this process long-continued, which exactly corre- 

 sponds with what I have called unconscious selection by 

 man, combined no doubt in a mo^t important manner 

 with the inherited effects of the increased use of parts, 

 it seems to me almost certain that an ordinary hoofed 

 quadruped might be converted into a giraffe. 



To this conclusion Mr. Mivart brings forward two 

 objections. One is that the increased size of the body 

 would obviously require an increased supply of food, 

 and he considers it as " very problematical whether the 

 disadvantages thence arising would not, in times of 

 scarcity, more than counterbalance the advantages." 

 But as the giraffe does actually exist in large numbers in 

 S. Africa, and as some of the largest antelopes in the 

 world, taller than an ox, abound there, why should we 

 doubt that, as far as size is concerned, intermediate 

 gradations could formerly have existed there, subjected 

 as now to severe dearths. Assuredly the being able to 

 reach, at each stage of increased size, to a supply of food, 

 left untouched by the other hoofed quadrupeds of the 

 country, would have been of some advantage to the 

 nascent giraffe. Nor must we overlook the fact, that in- 

 creased bulk would act as a protection against almost 

 all beasts of prey excepting the lion; and against this 

 animal, its tall neck, — and the taller the better, — ^would, 

 as Mr. Chauncey Wright has remarked, serve as a watch- 

 tower. It is from this cause, as Sir S. Baker remarks, 

 that no animal is more difficult to stalk than the giraffe. 

 This animal also uses its long neck as a means of offence 

 or defence, by violently swinging his head armed with 

 stump-like horns. The preservation of each species can 

 rarely be determined by any one advantage, but by the 

 union of all, great and small. 



